Friday, June 1, 2012

RUGBY IN JAPAN NEWSLETTER: Volume 9, No.21

RiJ has been working back through the history of Japan tests and this week has a few snippets from 1952. In the present, Japan wrapped up the A5N 2012 title for the fifth year in a row with an emphatic 67-0 win over Hong Kong in Tokyo. In the other game in week four, South Korea hammed Kazakhstan 87-17 in Almaty to jump into second place on the table and push their hosts one step closer to relegation.

Enjoy the read.

The Japan Test Match & Player History Project

For nine years now RiJ has been documenting Japanese rugby across various levels of the game. More recently, however, RiJ has recognised the need to accurately document the history of Japanese test match rugby and the players that have represented Japan down through the years. With this in mind, RiJ has embarked on a project to write the history of Japanese international rugby, detail every test that Japan has played and profile every player that has represented Japan.

Did you know?

Oxford University Tour to Japan 1952

In September and October 1952 Oxford University toured Japan for the first time playing seven games on tour winning all seven.

In the pre World War Two period Japanese rugby ventured onto the world stage playing seven tests for three wins, two draws and two losses. The inaugural test was a 3-all draw with British Columbia on the tour of Canada in 1930 and this was followed by two home wins over Canada in 1932, a win and a loss against the visiting Australian Universities in 1934 and finally a draw and a loss to New Zealand Universities on their tour of Japan in 1936.

After an impressive start, international rugby was stymied for Japan with the rise of militarism from the early to mid 1930s and the long descent into war leading to ultimate surrender and defeat in August 1945 followed by the post war Allied Occupation. The San Francisco Peace Treaty signed in September 1951 marked the beginning of the end of the Occupation with Japan (with the exception of Okinawa at that time) regaining full independence on 28 April 1952.

International rugby was restored in Japan in the same year with the inbound tour by Oxford University. Oxford played seven games on tour winning all seven including the two tests against the full Japan national side but the tour was significant as it marked the reintegration of Japan into the international rugby community. 1952 also saw Japan participate in the Winter Olympics in Oslo and the Summer Olympics in Helsinki.

The 9-all draw with NZU at Hanazono in February 1936 was to be the last test Japan played for the next sixteen years until they lined up against Oxford on the very same Hanazono ground in October 1952. However, rugby continued to be played domestically in Japan in these interceding years, particularly at the university level while limited ‘international’ rugby was still played both home and away with sides from Japan occupied Korea and Manchuria.

Given that there was a period of sixteen years between test number seven in 1936 and test number eight in 1952, it goes without saying that there were no players from the pre-war era that crossed over into the post-war period. Thus, the Japan team in the first test at Hanazono played mid week on 1 October 1952 was made up entirely of uncapped players with Takenosuke Okumura becoming the third national coach. The team was a mixture of youth, including 21 year old university students in left wing Yoshiaki Aoki, outside centre Takuo Otsuka and Waseda fullback Hidehiko Sato and some old heads including 31 year old Kintetsu prop Yoshinobu Nakajima, Kobe Steel No.10 Fukuo Shibagaki (27) and flanker and captain Yusaku Takahashi (27). For Takahashi, the eighth captain of Japan in as many tests, it was to be his one and only cap but his on field role did not end there as he was actually the referee for the second test played four days later. Under the leadership of flanker Giles Bullard, Oxford whitewashed Japan 35-0 crossing for a total of nine tries with left wing David Pollard scoring a hat-trick.

Four days later at the Tokyo Rugby Stadium, soon to be renamed the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground, the second test was played on 5 October 1952. On the scoreboard at least, things went from bad to worse for Japan with Oxford putting on twelve tries to run away with the final result 52-0. Following the trend of all previous eight tests, Japan had a new captain in tighthead prop Ryo Saito. Saito would go on to play a total of four tests and captain his country twice but after his playing days were over he became head coach of Japan in sixteen tests intermittently between 1974 and 1981 for a record of three wins, one draw and twelve losses.

Japan experienced the bitter taste of defeat in both tests but Japanese rugby, like the country itself, was on the road to recovery.

Japan and Hong Kong have met in 21 official tests since their first meeting in 1969. Japan have won 17 times and Hong Kong 4 times.

This year, 2012, marks fourteen years since Hong Kong last beat Japan during their third Pacific Rim Championship encounter at Chichibu in Tokyo when they scraped home 17-16. In fact, all four wins for Hong Kong over Japan came during the three year period they participated in the PRC with the three other wins all coming in a row when they won both home and away legs in 1997 with the 33-9 win in Aberdeen in 1996 their first win. Since that last win in 1998, Japan and Hong Kong have met eight times with Japan winning all eight tests.

The biggest win for Japan was 94-5 in May 2010 in the 4th A5N at Chichibu in Tokyo, while the biggest winning margin was 89 points in the same test, just shading the 88 points difference in the 91-3 win at the same ground in May 2005. Japan have kept Hong Kong scoreless on one occasion, 16-0 in Hong Kong in November 1972 in the final of the third ARFU Asian Championship. The longest winning sequence for Japan is eight wins in a row between 1998 and 2011.

The biggest win for Hong Kong was 42-20 in 1997, while the biggest winning margin was 24 points in the 33-9 win in 1996. The longest winning sequence for Korea is three wins in 1966 and 1997.

Of the twenty-one tests played, eleven have been played in Japan, with eight of those at Chichibu, while seven games have been played in Hong Kong and two played on the neutral territory of Seoul and Singapore.

Japan play their fourth and final game in the HSBS Asian Five Nations against Hong Kong at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo on Saturday 19 May 2012. In theory, Hong Kong still have a mathematical chance of taking the A5N title but they would need to take the maximum six points from both their remaining games while making sure Japan do not gain any points from this encounter. In reality though, that is easier said than done and Japan are in the box seat to take out their fifth title in a row.

Japan beat Kazakhstan 87-0 in Almaty in week one then beat the United Arab Emirates 106-3 in Fukuoka before beating South Korea 52-8 in Seoul last Saturday so the form book suggests Japan will make a clean sweep with a solid home win over Hong Kong. In the fourth test under new national coach Eddie Jones, one of the key elements in his selection policy has been stability. In the front row, after starting in the first three tests of this series hooker Ryuhei Arita drops back to the bench for Takeshi Kizu to make his first start this year after seeing game time from the bench in the earlier three games. Yusuke Nagae is on the loosehead side for his third start in the No.1 jersey and Kensuke Hatakeyama is the tighthead prop. The second row combination of Shinya Makabe and Hitoshi Ono has started every test this year with Ono running out for his fifty-eighth cap to put him on equal terms in third place with former Japan wing Daisuke Ohata on the all time list of cap holders for Japan. The backrow consists of regular faces too with Toshiba’s Yuta Mochizuki starting in the No.6 jersey for the third week in a row just to prove that consistency and effort pays off in the end with the 30 year old making his international debut from the bench in the first test of the year. Takamichi Sasaki on the openside and Michael Leitch at No8 also retain their places from last round.

In the backs, Atsushi Hiwasa is back for his first run-on start at halfback since facing the All Blacks in Hamilton last September after a short sabbatical with Stade Francais over the early weeks of this tournament made him unavailable. One place out, Kosei Ono has been the seed of consistency at five-eighth starting in the play-making position in all four tests while at inside centre Yu Tamura gets his second start since Kazakhstan. The rest of the backline has a pretty familiar look to it with Tomohiro Semba at outside centre, right wing and captain Toshiaki Hirose and fullback Ayumu Goromaru all starting in the same positions in every test while Hirotoki Onozawa gets his third start of the series on the left wing. Onozawa scored hat-tricks in his two early appearances against Kazakhstan and Korea so Jones and his team mates will be out to push the veteran for a hat-trick of hat-tricks in this test. Goromaru has done the kicking in the first three tests and may well have the role once again though Kosei Ono and Tamura are also regular goal kickers at club level.

On the bench, Arita is the reserve hooker with Hiroshi Yamashita the back-up prop. Yamashita’s international career has been revived under Jones as after earning eight caps in 2009 he fell out of favour with the selectors but last week against Korea he had game time from the bench in an international for the first time in almost three years. Shoji Ito and Yusaku Kuwazuru will once again cover the rest of the forward positions while Jun Fujii is the back-up for Hiwasa after starting at halfback in the first three tests. Harumichi Tatekawa will cover the mid field while Yasunori Nagatomo is in the No.22 jersey for the fourth week in a row to cover the outside positions.

Hong Kong beat UAE 85-0 in their opening game, but surprisingly went down 21-19 to Korea at home the following week to upset their championship hopes. Hong Kong had the bye last round and now face Japan and then host Kazakhstan in their last game. Coach Leigh Jones and manager Dai Rees have tried to put their best team on the field in an effort to upset Japan with Ian Ridgway, Tom Bolland and Stephen Nolan forming a big front row with Charles French and 2 metre tall Daniel Watson the second row. Nick Hewson and Mark Wright are the flankers with the latter playing his rugby in Japan with the Toyota Industries Shuttles while Pale Tauti is No8 and team captain.

A lot of responsibility will be on the shoulders of 20 year old Cado Lee at halfback as the youngest man on the field but one spot out at five-eighth Hong Kong Sevens star Keith Robertson will help to settle the nerves of Lee. Another one of Hong Kong’s Sevens players is Rowan Varty on the left wing and the Japan backs will do well to mark him as he knows only too well how to score tries. Lee Jones and Anthony Haynes are the centres, with Salom Yiu Kam Shing on the right wing and Ross Armourat fullback.

Hong Kong have a solid bench to call on with Jack Bennett and Alex Harris covering the front row, Mike Waller and Mark Goosen the backrow, with Tim Alexander the reserve halfback and Michael Glancy and Alex McQueen covering the rest of the backline.

Twelve months can be a long time in rugby as there are only three survivors in the Japan starting line-up from the one that faced Hong Kong at the Hong Kong Football Club on 30 April last year in the opening game of the A5N 2011 campaign in backrower Leitch, halfback Hiwasa and wing Onozawa. However, Kizu had game time from the bench in that test while Hatakeyama remained unused. On the other hand, in the forwards, Harris, Waller, Hewson, Goosen and Tauti started that game for Hong Kong while in the backs Robertson, Varty, Jones, Yiu and Armour also started the test. Tim Alexander and Alex McQueen were also on the bench that day in proof that there is a lot of experience and stability in this current Hong Kong team. Japan won the test 45-22 in what was to be the closest result for Japan that year.

Although Japan have put some big scores on Hong Kong in recent years, Hong Kong have steadily grown in strength and stability both on and off the field to finish as runners-up to Japan in the A5N 2011. This was their best ever finish in this tournament and with Jones creating a new look Japan team at the moment, Hong Kong had aspirations of going one better this year. However, the unexpected loss to Korea at home was a big blow for Hong Kong and the fact that Japan now have three tests under their collective belt means the rhythm and patterns are starting to look good. With Japan also playing their first test in Tokyo this season the hosts are going to present a formidable threat to the visitors.

Wrap-up

In their fourth and final game at the HSBC Asian Five Nations 2012, Japan wrapped up the title for the fifth year in a row with a convincing 67-0 win over Hong Kong at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground on Saturday 19 May 2012.

Japan outscored their opponents eleven tries to none to collect their twentieth bonus point win in a row in this competition to once again stamp their mark as the undisputed kings of Asian rugby. Runners-up from last season, Hong Kong have been steadily improving over recent seasons and they were expected to push Japan all the way, but as things turned out, playing at home was a big advantage for Japan as the new look home side under in-coming head coach Eddie Jones hardly put a foot wrong.

In perfect conditions for rugby on a fine spring day in the nation’s capital, Hong Kong kicked off defending the southern end of the field. However, it did not take Japan long to set up camp in the Hong Kong half and with the weight of possession and territory allowing the hosts to play their fast, open game from the outset it was inevitable that the points would come in lots of five and seven. Inside centre Yu Tamura was the first Japanese player to get his name on the scoreboard with a try in the fifth minute of play and this was followed by further tries to flanker Takamichi Sasaki in the eighth minute who is learning to find his way to the try line like great backrowers Takashi Kikutani and Takuro Miuchi before him , five-eighth Kosei Ono in the seventeenth minute, right wing and captain Toshiaki Hirose in the twenty-seventh minute and left wing Hirotoki Onozawa in the thirty-fifth minute. Fullback Ayumu Goromaru could only convert two of the five first half tries in a rare off day with the boot on his standards but a heavy knock early on in the piece in a questionably late tackle from Hong Kong fullback Ross Armour could well have put his usually very reliable radar off course. Nevertheless, the game was sealed by half time with Japan out to a 34-0 lead leaving almost no hope of a miracle win for Hong Kong. It was not only the game that was wrapped up for Japan by the halftime break, the A5N 2012 title also stayed in the trophy cabinet at the JRFU offices as Hong Kong had to win their final two games with maximum points and deny Japan any points in this test to have any chance of winning the crown. As it was the five tries Japan scored in the opening half brought up a four-try bonus point and the Asian crown. Making things harder for the visitors was the sinbinning of hooker Tom Bolland on the half hour mark for a late tackle that meant his side saw out the remainder of the half with only fourteen men on the field.

Japan kicked off the second half and immediately picked up where they left off in the first period. Onozawa scored the last try of the first half and then the first try of the second half when he touched down in the second minute of play in what was looking like another hat-trick day for the Suntory flyer. He did not get the chance over the remainder of the game to add to his tally but the two tries he took away from this test saw his overall total advance to fifty-one international tries to overtake Rory Underwood on 50 (91 tests, England, Lions, 1984-1996) leaving only Shane Williams on 59 (90 tests, Wales, Lions, (2000-2011), David Campese on 64 (Australia, 101 tests, 1982-1996) and Daisuke Ohata on 69 (Japan, 58 tests, 1996-2006) ahead of him. After the test, Jones made the comment that we are yet to see the best out of Onozawa, so given the confidence his coach has in him, the Williams record could fall in the not too distant future. The second try for Onozawa was soured somewhat as he was left in pain on the ground after late knees to the back from Armour after scoring the try. Onozawa would recover and see out the rest of the game, but that was not to be the end of it for the Hong Kong fullback as he was cited for his actions and handed a two week suspension as a consequence.

The game tended to meander a lot over the second stanza with Hong Kong spoiling tactics and a front foot scrum working to slow down the game while the Japanese backs did not get a lot of clean, usable ball to work their magic. As a result, the Japanese forwards dominated a lot of the loose field play in the half scoring four of the next five tries despite the fact No8 Michael Leitch was sinbinned for the second time in a test mid-way though the half for what was considered a late charge by Singaporean referee Azar Yusof. The other try scorers for Japan were Leitch who crossed for his seventh test try, replacement lock Shinji Ito who crossed for his first, tighthead prop Kensuke Hatakeyama and reserve hooker Ryuhei Arita. The only other back to get a five-pointer in the latter half was fullback Goromaru who added this to his six conversions to come away with seventeen points from the match to take him into three figures in international rugby on 111 points.

After the test, Jones said, “This was our best performance of the A5N. We had the game won at halftime. We played with discipline and a lot of control. There are still many areas to improve, but I am really pleased with the growth of this team. We’ll have a bit of a break now and I am looking forward to putting together a good PNC (IRB Pacific Nations Cup) campaign. We target to win it.”

One of those areas to improve is the scrum as the Hong Kong pack definitely had the ascendancy in this test. When asked about this Jones agreed and pointed out that it was a matter of developing leg strength in order to establish a low scrum and that this will take time. Part of his strategy in his series was to start tighthead prop Hatakeyama at loosehead in the second game against the UAE. Jones reflected that Hatakeyama is not a natural No.1 but over the next four years he is going to work on his skills so that he can effectively play both sides. According to Jones, there are only three or four props in world rugby that can skilfully play both loosehead and tighthead positions and so the task he is setting Hatakeyama is a very difficult one.

In the second half, Jones once again cleared his bench and thus rearranged his backline with Goromaru playing the closing stages of the half at outside centre with Yasunori Nagatomo coming on from the bench at fullback. Jones was also asked to comment on using Goromaru who is usually a fullback at outside centre, “The important numbers on the field for us are 9, 10 and 15. Goromaru has only played to 60% of his potential and so we are going to get it out of him one way or the other.” Jones went on to say that he wants Goromaru to be able to slot in and play well at various positions across the backline. The same could be said for Nagatomo who normally plays on the right wing at club level for Suntory but was picked in this A5N squad as a fullback.

Japan captain Hirose added, “Hopefully we sent the fans home happy today. As a team we are still a work in process. I am looking forward to a short break now.” Jones was full of praise of his captain saying that he has done a great job in bringing the team together and that his leadership is very important.

On the other hand, in a case of Jones and Jones, Hong Kong head coach, Welshman Leigh Jones had the following to say, “We were well beaten by a thorough and professional Japanese team. Playing away against Japan was always going to be tough in what was a case of a good big’un versus a good little’un. We tried to contain them around the base, particularly with the new halves they had this year and it worked for the first forty minutes, but it was difficult to counter the pace of this Japanese team.”

IRB Pacific Nations Cup 2012

Now in its seventh year in 2012, the International Rugby Board (IRB) funded IRB Pacific Nations Cup 2011 involves the three island nations Fiji,Samoa and Tonga along with Japan.

In 2006 this tournament kicked off as the IRBPacific Five Nations and involved Fiji, Japan, the Junior All Blacks,Samoa and Tonga. Australia A joined the competition in 2007 and the tournament name changed to its present moniker of Pacific Nations Cup. The same format was maintained for 2008 with the exception being the New ZealandMaori were the New Zealand representative side rather than the Junior All Blacks.

In 2009, the Junior All Blacks replaced the New Zealand Maori as the New Zealand representative team, while Australia A did not participate. The 2009 tournament was condensed with the majority of the games played in Fiji rather than the home and away format of the three previous years. Also in 2009,ANZ (Australia and New Zealand Banking Group) came on board as the presenting sponsor for the tournament.

In 2010, Fiji, Japan, Samoa and Tonga took part in the ANZ Pacific Nations Cup 2010. Except for the opening game between Fiji and Japan at Churchill Park in Lautoka, Fiji, Samoa and the Samoan Rugby Union hosted the 2010 competition with the remaining five games played at Apia Park in the capital city of Apia. With the tournament again largely hosted in one country, refereeing and coaching workshops along with junior rugby clinics took place across the two week duration of the event. This was the first time for Samoa to host a major international 15-a-side rugby tournament and the occasion was a fillip for Samoa after the 2009 Samoa Earthquake, an 8.1M submarine earthquake and resulting tsunami struck the area on 29 September causing significant damage and loss of life across the region.

In 2011, the IRB Pacific Nations Cup 2011 was originally slated to be hosted in Japan. However, the magnitude 9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake that struck off the coast of north-eastern Japan on the afternoon of 11 March along with the resultant tsunami and nuclear accident at the Fukushima Number One Nuclear Power Plant changed everything. On 26 April 2011, the Japan Rugby Football Union announced that except for the opening game between Japan and Samoa on 2 July, the IRB Pacific Nations Cup 2011 would be moved from Japan to Fiji. As a result of the ongoing situation in Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake it was decided that the remaining five games would be played in Fiji. The JRFU made the decision in consultation with the International Rugby Board with Tatsuzo Yabe, chairman of the JRFU making the comment, “It is extremely unfortunate, but it cannot be helped.” On 9 May 2011, the IRB announced the revised schedule for the IRB Pacific Nations Cup 2011.

This year, the IRB Pacific Nations Cup 2012 is to be hosted in Japan except for the final game between Tonga and Fiji that will be played in Fiji. In the IRB World Rankings (23 April 2012), Tonga are currently ranked the highest in ninth place on 76.63 ratings points closely followed by Samoa one place behind on 75.81 points. Japan are the next best side in fourteenth place on 70.45 points while Fiji are in sixteenth place on 68.78 points.

Previous Winners

2010: Samoa. After the New Zealand representative sides had won all four previous titles, Samoa etched their name on the trophy for the first time. Samoa left it till the last game against Fiji to win the crown when they won 31-9 with a bonus point while denying Fiji any form of bonus point in the process. Both sides finished on nine points but Samoa took the title on a better points differential. Japan finished third on 8 points after picking up two wins for the first time while Tonga finished last on four points with three losses.

2009: The Junior All Blacks. The JAB again took the PNC title undefeated on 19 points. Fiji were runner-up on 14 points followed by Samoa on 12 points, while Japan finished fourth on 6 points with one win and three losses. Tonga took the wooden spoon on one point.

2008: The New Zealand Maori. The Maori took the PNC title undefeated with 21 points when they beat Australia A 21-18 in the final game in Sydney. Australia A finished runner-up on 20 points. Japan finished fifth on 7 points with one win and four losses.

2007: The Junior All Blacks. The JAB took the PNC title undefeated with 25 points garnering maximum points in each game. Australia A finished a distant runner-up on 16 points after they lost to the JAB and drew with Fiji. Japan finished last on 4 points with one win and four losses.

2006: The Junior All Blacks. The JAB took the P5N title undefeated with 20 points with maximum points in each game. Japan finished last on 0 points with four losses.

IRB Pacific Nations Cup 2012 Schedule and Results

Round

Date

Team

Score

Team

Kick-off

Venue

Referee (TBC)

One

Tuesday 5 June 2012

Samoa

-

Tonga

17:10

Mizuho Park Rugby Ground, Nagoya

Wayne Barnes (RFU)

Fiji

-

Japan

19:10

Mizuho Park Rugby Ground, Nagoya

John Lacey (IRFU)

Two

Sunday 10 June 2012

Fiji

Samoa

12:10

Chichibu, Tokyo

Wayne Barnes (RFU)

Japan

-

Tonga

14:10

Chichibu, Tokyo

Pascal Gauzere (FFR)

Three

Sunday 17 June 2012

Samoa

-

Japan

14:10

Chichibu, Tokyo

John Lacey (IRFU)

Saturday 23 June 2012

Tonga

-

Fiji

15:40

Churchill Park, Lautoka

Keith Brown (NZRU)

Junior Japan

A Junior Japan side made up of younger players will take on Tonga at Chichibu in Tokyo on Friday 15 June 2012.

French Barbarians

A French Barbarians side made up of players in the France league will play Japan on Wednesday 20 June and Sunday 24 June 2012 with both games at Chichibu in Tokyo.